A Point-of-Service (POS) is often referred to as a location where operations in support of retail transactions are conducted. A POS may be the point where a customer makes a payment to a merchant in exchange for goods or services. Further, the merchant may, at the POS, calculate an amount owed by the customer and provide options for the customer to make payment. A payment may be made by, for example, cash, a credit card, a debit card, or check. The merchant may also issue a receipt to the customer for the transaction. Customers may also return purchased goods to the POS.
To facilitate such retail transactions, a merchant may deploy one or more checkout stations having POS terminals and a scanner. In most cases, a checkout station is configured to operate in an “employee-assisted” mode in which the merchant (or an employee of the merchant) scans each item for a customer, accepts payment for the scanned items from the customer, and places the purchased items in a bag for the customer. Such employee-assisted checkout stations enable the merchant to personally interact with the customer. In some cases, however, checkout stations are configured to operate in a “self-checkout” mode. In this mode, the customer has little or no interaction with the merchant, and performs the scanning, payment, and bagging functions typically performed by the merchant.